Cyrus, M., Armato, A., James, T., & Karaoglu, D. (2010) Who Own My Heart [Recorded by Miley Cyrus]. On Can’t Be Tamed [mp3]. Hollywood, CA: Hollywood Records.
Cyrus, M., Armato, A., James, T., Neumann, P., & Pompetzki, M. (2010) Can’t Be Tamed [Recorded by Miley Cyrus]. On Can’t Be Tamed [mp3]. Hollywood, CA: Hollywood Records.
Cyrus, M. & Shanks, J. (2010) Stay [Recorded by Miley Cyrus]. On Can’t Be Tamed [mp3]. Hollywood, CA: Hollywood Records.
[I wish I could just send you to this post at Tiger Beatdown in lieu of an actual review, as theirs will always be the much better review to read, but I can’t really turn in someone else’s blog post for my homework. So here goes...]
After trashing the last couple of musicians, I’m now going to have to admit that I actually enjoyed Cyrus’ songs. They still feel very extra shiny polished in a way that smells of lots and lots people working on Miley Cyrus, The Star.* But. They are actually interesting and, despite the being more mature songs, are also the kinds of things I’d like tween girls to be thinking about.
Yeah, I know, that’s not exactly an uncontroversial statement. Now, I’m not really talking younger tweens here, and it’s clear that Miley has become more of a teen artist than a tween artist as she has moved into adulthood herself.
Granted, Stay is a pretty typical love ballad, but it’s also more musically sophisticated than, for example, Everclear’s offerings. Who Owns My Heart had mine from the first though – talking about the difference between desire and love? In a ways that also suggests she’s pondering if any love would ever be worth living up her artistic passions? The lyrics are definitely more mature (although, when is rock not about sex?) but the questions are ones I want (older) tweens asking themselves.
And then there’s Can’t be Tamed. Of course there’s going to be adults that are made uneasy by adolescents declaring their independence. Especially when you throw “girls” and “sex” into the mix. I’m not really all that thrilled about tween girls thinking they need to be sexy, sexy to rebel myself. At the same time, the fact that we seem to continually try to control girls’ sexuality rather than guide them is part of what led to this song and video, as is the idea that for girls, “sexually available” = “adult.” So it seems to me that it’s very appropriate for older tweens to be listening to Miley – and for the adults in their lives to be engaging in conversations with them about why they think Miley is rebelling the way that she is.
Best for ages 13-16
Artist website: http://www.mileycyrus.com/
*right, so, probably shouldn’t have reread Sady and Amanda’s post right before writing this.
